The Department of Theater and Dance is performing, Our Country’s Good, written by Timberlake Wertenbaker. The play offers a variety of characters, themes and accents for students to dive into.
This particular production was chosen by director Amy Seham and the Theater/Dance faculty. The department aims to choose a variety of productions that talk about important issues as well as provide entertainment for the audience.
“We aim to explore a variety of theatre styles and historical periods, and we seek plays that engage with intriguing social and political questions,” Seham said.
This play also incorporates history into its writing. “Our Country’s Good is a wonderful script that brings history to life. It provides a number of strong roles for men and for women, giving our actors challenging and rewarding opportunities to develop their acting ability,” Seham said.
Our Country’s Good is a play filled with both humor and drama. “If you like drama, there’s drama. If you like comedy, there’s also comedy” First-year Leah Lind, playing multiple characters, said.
Another unique aspect of this play is the group dynamic it portrays and requires in its preparation. “…it’s [a] very ensemble based show so we’ve all really had to work together to make our characters work together…we’ve put a lot of time into it” Lind said.
The themes it discusses are ones that intrigue audience members. “It deals with a lot of really important themes like what makes someone human, themes of justice…it’s a really interesting piece of theater. It really makes you think about power structures and relationships with other people”, Lind said.
Students have been running through scenes, creating backdrops and putting work into this play since the first few weeks of the academic year.
Their hardwork and dedication is all going towards the goal of producing a well done show. “The acting is great, and the scenery, costumes and lights are amazing. The play raises important questions, and ends on an uplifting, inspiring message,” Seham said.
Actors have also been given an opportunity to learn how to use different accents in the show.
“We had accent coaching with an actual trained accent coach, so we have a lot of different British accents and I have a Scottish accent for one of my characters, so that’s kind of fun,” Lind said.
“We aim to explore a variety of theater styles and historical periods, and we seek plays that engage with intriguing social and political questions.” — Amy Seham
The production centers around a group of men in prison who are tasked with performing a play. The theme of theater shows the audience that it can change humans for the better and remind others that prisoners are also people.
“Contemporary playwright, Timberlake Wertenbaker, uses this true story to explore the dehumanizing effects of incarceration and the prison system.
“The play also celebrates the transformational potential of theatre as a means of rediscovering the humanity and dignity of the prisoners,” Seham said.
The department has been able to use a resource to help inspire its students. This resource is a performance artist named Robert Galinsky.
“Robert has worked closely with a movement called Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, that brings theatre, art, and poetry to young people in prisons. He has already shared some of his experiences with the cast, and given us great insights into the power of theatre to educate and inspire troubled youth,” Seham said.
This production is filled with relevant social issues, themes and personalities, applicable to a wide range of audiences.
Performances will run November 16-19 with matinee and evening shows. Tickets will be on sale November 2 and will be sold an hour before each performance at the Anderson Theater box office.